Are progressives getting a little too predictable? After all, you draft a player and know pretty much what you're getting from him for the next 5,10, 15 or how ever many years he plays.

Not in this league.

Before each season, we virtually roll dice to decide which year of each of your players you will be using. As a real GM has to deal with uncertainty while they build their rosters, you will too!

Interested? Read on.

Rules:

Roll the dice (like real dice, 1 to 6 on each die, like a craps game) ... and you get one of a player's seasons. Only the current season and +- 1 to 3 seasons are possible. The odds favor the current season and the +- 1 seasons. For 1978 the possible seasons to be used will be 1975-1981 (including '78). If a player is not rated for the current season they can be put on the DL, though will not be eligible to be drafted if not already on a roster. If a player was rated for the current season but rolls an unrated season he will be rolled again until an active season is rolled.

Example for 1979 - Jim Gantner's career began in 1976, then he was not rated by WIS in '77, then he played from 1978 - 1981 (and beyond). His possible rolls in 1979 are
2 = 1976
3 = re-roll
4 or 5 = 1978
6 - 8 = 1979
9-10 = 1980
11 = 1981
12 = 1982

Dice Season Used
2 current season -3 (odds 2.8%) 1976
3 current season -2 (odds 5.6%) 1977
4 current season -1 (odds 8.3%) 1978
5 current season -1 (odds 11.1%) 1978
6 current season (odds 13.9%) 1979
7 current season (odds 16.7%) 1979
8 current season (odds 13.9%) 1979
9 current season +1 (odds 11.1%) 1980
10 current season +1 (odds 8.3%) 1980
11 current season +2 (odds 5.6%) 1981
12 current season +3 (odds 2.8%) 1982

If the result of the roll is not possible such as a rookie getting a roll of -1, -2, or -3, a re-roll occurs until a valid season is the outcome. See below for disabled list rules.

Players will be rolled for each season, prior rolls and season's used will not matter. Example- A player could roll the 72 season, then the next season roll a 70 season.

As GMs we still have the advantage of KNOWING his seasons, but rolling each player adds uncertainty to the building of obvious championships.

Prog began with 1970.

More Details:

-20 teams

-Salary of each team's keepers is used to determine the draft order, from lowest to highest salary.

Draft Timeline
Keepers announced- 25 or less
Dice rolled for the keepers for each team. Less than 25 may be kept, does not change the calculation.
Draft order determined using the total salary of the keepers season rolled. Once the rolls are done no changes will be made to the draft order, regardless of trades.
Draft rookies/free agents players, those players would not be rolled until the draft is complete.

-Draft ballpark during initial draft in any round, may be from any era. Ballparks are exclusive but different ballparks from the same team/city may be used, i.e. Sportsmans Park and Busch Stadium could both be used. If a park changed names but remained the same physically (Enron-Minute Maid) only one version can be used. Parks that were rebuilt using the same name (Yankee I-II-III) are also exclusive.

-AL/NL determined by ballpark choice, if a park was used in both leagues the league will be determined by whichever league it was used in the longest. Ex.- Shea would be NL.

- Ballparks may be traded or changed once every five seasons per team. If more than one team is changing ballparks before a season there will be a ballpark draft (order determined by keeper salary). Ballpark trades and intent to change must be announced before the current season's draft begins. Owners who play in parks that changed versions but not names (Yankee, Busch, etc.) may change to their new stadium version when the historical version changed.

-Division alignments permanent.

-Only full season stats will be used

-Keepers/cuts- 25 keepers max, unlimited cuts

-Disabled List- If a player's current season is a DL season the player will be on the disabled list and the owner will be given an extra draft choice. In all drafts you can only draft a player who was rated for the current season, you can't draft a player ineligible for the current season and stash them on DL. A player can be kept on the DL for as many seasons as he was not rated but must be activated as soon as he is rated for a season.

-As long as a player is rated for the current season he will have to roll an active season. If the first roll(s) result in IR or pre-rookie or retirement years the dice will be rolled again until an active season is rolled. Takes some unpredicteablity out but it does ensure that every team will have 25 players with at least some stats.

-Players who are traded or released after the dice rolls keep their original die roll for the entire season.

-No waivers

-DH in AL only from 1973 onward

-Interleague-yes

-6/6 AAA Below Average, Real, one season use only (released at end of each season), can be traded for the current season's use

-Trade draft picks only one year in advance (71 picks during 70 draft, etc)

-Trades involving draft picks must specify what picks are being traded i.e. owner's who already own less than 6 picks must specify what pick they are trading

-Votes to veto trade: 6

-Owners who own two teams may not trade with their own teams and must have one AL and one NL team. Any sportsmanship violations can result in double owners losing one or both teams.

-Team city names will be based on stadium choice. Nicknames are owner's choice, no duplicates or profanity, near profanity, etc.

-Tanking- If someone thinks an owner is tanking they bring it up to me, I'll talk to the owner involved and other owners to determine a fair course of action. Losing does not improve draft position so there should not be any intentional tanking.

-Sim LivePlay is allowed- Next Series Only

- Owners must load their team into the league within 7 days of the last scheduled draft pick or they will be subject to removal from the league. Exceptions for vacations, health problems, etc. may be made.

This is a very enjoyable league. Lots of good natured banter on the message board, and a good selection of players in the draft. The draft placement system gives no reason to tank games, Mountain Jack has been an excellent commish, open minded to suggestions, and diligent to details which make things easier and nicer for us.

I do them using the hamete virtual dice roller site- http://dicelog.com/dice, except for my own team, another league member does those using a spreadsheet. On the hamete site I just click the 2d6 button and roll the dice for however many players a team needs rolled at one time. So, if I'm rolling for 5 players it looks like this-

For the upcoming season we are using 1972 as the current (base) season, so players can roll any season from '69 to '75, but the odds favor the current (base) season, with the +- 1, 2 , and 3 seaons' odds progressively worse. The above example would result in the following seasons being used:
Player 1- 1969
Player 2- 1972
Player 3- 1971
Player 4- 1971
Player 5- 1973

Though it didn't work out that way in the example, the majority of players end up using the current season. We progress one season at a time, so after we finish the upcoming season we will use 1973 as the base season for rolls.

This league is truly a unique experience in progressives. I've been in it from the start and enjoy having the added dimension of dealing with unexpected holes in your roster and unexpected breakout seasons.

Just a pitch for someone to join this league and take the Pittsburgh team listed above:

This is a good league and our outcomes are more realistic I think than in any other league I have a team in.

As an example, here are the final season stats for our 1972 season for my team which won its division (and then got strangled in 3 straight by a team with superior starting pitching): It would be hard for the numbers for my top three starters (4th starter was by committee) to be any closer to the real life numbers which are listed just below the season stats. And same for my hitters - the only anomaly is Thurman Munson's HR total. Otherwise VERY realistic.